Michael Johnson is looking to kickstart his career in a new division. The longtime 155-pounder has fallen on hard times of late, losing four out of his last five and stalling out in the divisional rankings. So he’s going to take his talents to featherweight, and he had a great first opponent in mind – former champion Jose Aldo.

Unfortunately for him, it looks like Aldo is already about to be booked against Ricardo Lamas. So Johnson told FloCombat that he’d like to fight another 145-pound stalwart instead – Cub Swanson:

“I think me and Cub would be a great fight. I wanted Aldo first, but it looks like him and Ricardo are going to fight, and man, I mean, Cub would be the next great option. I’ve gotten into this business with one thing on my mind, and that’s to fight the best guys in the division, to fight whoever’s the champ, whoever’s beaten everybody. Those are the guys I want to fight, so a fight with Cub, you know, that’s right up my alley.”

“The Menace” explained that he has no malice towards Swanson, who is currently ranked at number four at 145 and is coming off a string of exciting wins. He’s justl looking to fight the best, and he wants to get in there before the end of 2017:

“He’s a friend of mine but it’s all business and I want to test myself, And he’s the one that will test me. Man, December 30th’s right up my alley. It’s a great card. It’s another card in Vegas. I need to redeem myself after my last trip to Vegas, so that’s perfect for me, man. I just got back into training, and I’m hitting it hard. I’m going to be ready for anything that comes up.”